Lifeworld Practices
Risky Romance: Illicit Intimacy and Moral Policing in Contemporary Malaysia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nurul Huda Mohd. Razif
Malaysia is a Muslim-majority nation with an Islamized state that has little tolerance for its Muslim subjects indulging in sexual intimacy outside of marriage. Such transgressions classified as “khalwat” – being in close physical proximity to a non-kin member of the opposite sex in an intimate or sexual way that “arouses suspicion” – are recognized as a criminal offense under Malaysia’s Shariah laws; any couple caught in an act of khalwat is liable to being arrested by a state-led moral police unit, summoned to a hearing in court, and subjected to a hefty fine for their indiscretions. This paper examines the role of the Vice Prevention Unit (Unit Pencegah Maksiat) operating under the payroll of the state in clamping down pre- and extra-marital sexual intimacy, both in public spaces and behind closed doors. Under the guise of “enjoining good and forbidding evil”, the Unit, in collaboration with a prying public, engages in indiscreet acts of shaming such as propagandized arrests and trials to form a kind of public morality that is intolerant of illicit intimacy. This intrusive interest in its Muslim citizens’ intimate pursuits reveals the conspiring machinations in the way the Malaysian state colludes with Islam and Malay culture and traditions (adat) to protect access to intimacy as a conjugal privilege. I thus examine moral policing here – both state-led and community-driven – as attempts to maintain the ethical order through repressing unlawful desires that threaten the very moral foundations of the society and the ummah (global Muslim community).
A Society without God? : On Secularity, Religiosity and Prosperity in Scandinavia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kjell Olof Urban Lejon
Sweden and Denmark have by American sociologist Phil Zuckerman been described as prosperous “societies without God,” as secular “heavens.” But are these societies truly secular? And is it true that secularity has caused prosperity in Scandinavia? This paper deals with the modern religious situation in “the public square” in Scandinavia, with new research findings and will give essential references to Scandinavia's cultural and religious history. It will display the impact of the Lutheran heritage in creating the Swedish/Scandinavian welfare states, and discuss Zuckerman's attempt to describe Sweden and Denmark as secular ideals.
Testing the Limits of Diversity: What Does the Same-sex Marriage Debate Tell Us about Religion in Australia in the First Quarter of the Twentieth Century?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andrew Dutney
In December 2017, after years of public debate and in response to a controversial “non-compulsory opinion survey” the Australian Parliament voted to approve same-sex marriage, preserving the right of religious celebrants to refuse to marry same sex couples. In July 2018, after decades of wrestling with the same matter the Uniting Church in Australia (the third largest Christian church in Australia) gave permission for its ministers to solemnise same-sex marriages. The UCA decision also preserved the right of ministers and congregation to continue to uphold a traditional view of marriage and to refuse to conduct same-sex marriages. The intense debate within the church following this decision throws light on a wide range of the key features of religion in contemporary Australia including the diversity of faith and practice, cultural and linguistic diversity, and the changing relation between the churches, society and government. This project maps and discusses those features, and asks what they suggest for the medium term future of a religious organisation like the Uniting Church in Australia.
